Man admits mailing ricin-laced card

A Hatboro man with a history of mental-health treatment admitted Monday to sending a scratch-and-sniff birthday card laced with the deadly poison ricin to a man dating his ex-girlfriend.

And Nicholas Todd Helman's journey through the Bucks County court system is hardly over. He is facing new charges that allege he plotted from jail to kill the Warminster detective investigating the ricin case and kidnap the deputy district attorney prosecuting it, telling a former cellmate to rip out the attorney's tongue. Helman also wanted to harm others involved in the ricin case, including the victim, the new court records stated.

Helman, 19, was arraigned on the new charges, which include solicitation to commit murder, Monday morning in Warrington District Court. He then pleaded guilty in a Bucks County courtroom to all of the counts filed against him in the ricin case, including attempted murder.

During Monday's proceeding, Helman told Judge Alan Rubenstein that he had spent three days in a mental hospital in 2010 and that he takes the antidepressant Lexapro.

Ricin is a poisonous powder made from castor beans. It can be fatal if ingested. In March, Helman made the ricin and then placed the laced card in the mailbox of the boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend in Warminster, Bucks County.

He then bragged of the toxic card to a coworker at a Target store in Warrington. The coworker notified police, who called the victim's house. After arresting Helman, police found more of the poisonous power stashed at the Hatboro apartment he shares with his mother.

Helman's sentencing in the ricin case is yet to be scheduled. He faces a minimum prison sentence of more than five years for the attempted-murder count and a minimum of more than two years for an aggravated-assault charge.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for January to review the new charges. They stem from the grand jury testimony of the former cellmate, who said Helman asked him to kill the Warminster detective and kidnap the prosecutor, and burn both of their houses down.

He also asked the cellmate to murder the man Helman originally intended to kill with ricin and to burn the eyes out of the coworker who alerted police of the ricin-laced letter, court records stated.

Helman allegedly said he would pay for the killings with cash from a savings bond his grandparents had given him.